History and African American Health Focus of Presentation at Creighton

History and African American Health Focus of Presentation at Creighton

“How History Shapes African American Health Today” will be the subject of a 7 p.m. presentation on Tuesday, Nov. 30, at Creighton University.

The presentation will explore how and to what extent the collective history of African Americans shapes present-day African American health. The event, which will be held in the Ahmanson Ballroom of the Mike and Josie Harper Center for Student Life and Learning, and a 6:30 p.m. reception are free to the public.

Dayle DeLancey, Ph.D., a medical historian and an assistant professor in the Department of Medical History and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, will give a brief overview that touches upon key ideas and historical themes, including those connected with the Tuskegee syphilis study and more recent revelations about the Guatemala syphilis experiment. An informal discussion will follow.

Although the Tuskegee syphilis study has become a powerful symbol of unethical experimentation involving African American patients, DeLancey stresses the importance of looking beyond that study to understand history’s impact upon contemporary African American health.

“My own research on African American experiences of vaccination in the 19th and 20th centuries shows that if we cast this wider historical net, we discover complex and surprising historical continuities between past and present African Americans medical experiences,’ she noted.

DeLancey’s presentation is sponsored by the Creighton University Center for Health Policy & Ethics, Immunization Task Force – Metro Omaha and many other organizations.

The presentation is one of two DeLancey will make at Creighton. On Wednesday, Dec. 1, she will speak noon-1 p.m. on “African Americans and Smallpox Vaccination: The Philadelphia Experience, 1730-1923.” The talk, part of the Creighton University School of Medicine’s Distinguished Lecture Series, will take place in the Morrison Seminar Room of Creighton University Medical Center. It is also free to the public.